New media center setup

So to try to overcome the stress on the media center I have been building a dual proc media center with a raid 0 ~400 gig array to up the storage for all the TV we record. I am not sure if it is just me or the hardware I choose to use, but I cannot seem to get the media center OS to the array on a promise 133ut2 pci raid card. Apparently I cannot even configure the array the way that I have with previous promise pci raid cards. This seems unfortunate as I was hoping to configure 3 drives (2 200's and 1 160gig) into a big old array for OS and all the media that we have to put on it. So I am kind of back to the drawing board and looking through the scrap heap for another pci raid card. Very sad.

Kind of fun getting to show my little brother the process of building a computer the looking for parts and testing each component to ensure that failures are isolated and removed. I am kind of an electronics graveyard so somethings work, others or questionable.

Any how, I am diligently working to complete this "dry run" so we can put the TV tuner cards in and give this baby a spin. Works out great that the wife went to the Chestival (Some country music festival) at the Seahawks stadium and my brother was at a friends wedding all day. Even after a firmware upgrade the pci card didn't give me the option to configure the raid, so I am tediously reading the manual to see if it even supports what I am after.

Technology astounds Me

So there I was reading my techcrunch and suddenly a post jumped out at me so strongly I had to post.

Ether

Yeah, remember it because it may well be how you get your tech support from now on. I doesn't really fit into the hardware blog (being software) but I wanted to post about what a great way this is to monetize businesses that are hard to put value to. This gives the small guys a very powerful tool to monetize the "on the side" consulting business they do. I now can charge by the call, by the hour, however I want and have it paid to my by the company that handles the infrastructure.

Simply put brilliant, nice catch techcrunch.

In my line of work (technology) you find yourself constantly getting pulled onto side projects and helping people over the phone for things they should figure out for them selves. Family aside you end up supporting the onesy, twosey Ma and Pa friends of the neighbor and no real way to extract value out of that time. This prevents those calls just by letting them know that you value your time and they should too.

First day and that's ok

Today is the first day of my younger brothers trek into adulthood. He is signing papers at his first Real Job, and I can only assume that he is excited and nervous like I was. 3 years out of College and 3 jobs later (yikes I'm not a flake a swear) all I can say is I hope his trip into figuring out what "Fiscal responsibility" is shorter than mine was.

My wife and I are making room in our home for him and trying hard to manage what that means for us. I am not sure the reality of what it does mean has set in for her yet, but I am hoping that he has grown up enough to be gracious of what we are giving him.

While I was in college I worked as much as 24 hrs a week and played a sport all while going to school full time. It wasn't easy and he never worked during the school year, so I hope he figures out a the rigors of work/life balance and doesn't get caught in the boring "careerism" my wife and I are struggling with. Work is supposed to be what you do, not who you are, and for us it has become a large part of who we are. I am that guy that leaves to be to work at 8am (7am on Mondays) and gets done as late as 9pm; and she is no better when its time for "Month end close" (she's an accountant).

I suppose it crazy to see someone you still think of as a child growing up, and now I am all nostalgic for when I was doing the same. Exciting and scary times.

Who bought all this crap?!?

So my wife and I have been married now for just over a year, and been living together for a little over two (get over it you puritan); and it occurred to me that we have a lot of crap. Most of it really isn't even something we use, or want; this begs the question: Who bought all this crap?

Don't get me wrong I love The Little Princess and all, but I have my suspicions that it may be her that bought it all. What with all the random computer and electronics laying about. Miscellaneous half finished electronic experiments, and hardware strewn about; I think I live with a closet technology whore. Either that or it is me.

Either way, since my little brother plans on living with us for a time, some of those piles need to find homes other than ours to stay in. As we mucked out the spare bedroom and the office it became abundantly clear that we have two pack rats and at least one shopping whore in the household and all of them have to leave if we ever hope to save enough chits to buy a home. I think that Craigslist and Goodwill will be getting more crap fodder in the very near future.

Tags: Junk Clutter Home Life Marriage